Gradebook & Assignment Manager
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When instructors use Blackboard's Assignment Manager to post assignments, students can submit an Assignment it will appear in the Gradebook, where Instructors can access and grade it.
This feature eliminates the need to have students e-mail assignments to instructors.
You may have heard of the Digital Dropbox. The Assignment manager is more manageable than the Digital Dropbox.
The Assignment content type in Blackboard allows users to post an article or other document with instructions, retrieve the completed assignment from a student, and grade that assignment via the Gradebook. With Assignments, Blackboard provides enhanced item management options, including bulk downloading and cleanup of files.
If you would like the Blackboard Learning Services Tip Sheet - Working with Assignments click here
Receiving assignments from students
If you are interested in having your students submit files to you electronically, here's how you can use Blackboard's Assignment manager:
From here, instructors have the same options that they have for most other content types, including time-release options.
Assignments can contain file attachments (such as lists of questions for students to answer, articles to read, presentations to review, maps or spreadsheets to analyze), as well as text embedded directly into Blackboard.
Note: When adding an Assignment, provide clear and concise directions for the student. Blackboard will automatically create a button that reads “View/Complete,” but this may be confusing for students without supplemental information and directions. As always, the more detailed the instructions, the fewer questions students will have when completing the assignment.
Assignment Availability Dates can help you set submission deadlines. You can schedule the Assignment to disappear, thereby stopping students from turning in late work. To reset the Availability Date after you’ve already added the Assignment (to grant students an extension, for example), click Modify next to the Assignment within the Control Panel.
Viewing / Downloading Assignments Received
To View assignments that have been submitted, you have a few options.
To view an Individual student's assignment:
To Download assignments from the gradebook:
Adding comments to returned assignments
When grading assignments, you can post comments to the student when you post their grade in the gradebook by clicking on the ! next to their name.
You can also type comments on their document and return the corrected document to them. In order to this, we recommend the following:
If you would like to post grades for students in Blackboard, you will need
to do so in the Gradebook area.
When grades are posted in the gradebook, the students can only see their grade and no one else's.
Students and Instructors have told us that they like this feature because it avoids grade disputes at the end of the semester.
When assignments, surveys and exams are submitted, instructors can view the results via the gradebook.
Caution: Classes larger than 999 users will not be able to use the gradebook feature, it cannot display more than 999 students.
Blackboard Gradebook Manual - Developed by Niagra Community College. This is a PDF file so you will need Adobe Acrobat in order to view it.
To add an item to the gradebook, you have two choices, you can either add from the Gradebook in the Control Panel or you can add an item when you upload your gradebook. The choice is yours.
When you Add an Item, you will see a screen like this:
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Category: Choose the category (if the category you want is not there, you can create one later) To create a Category, From the Gradebook, choose Gradebook Settings. Then Choose: Manage Gradebook Categories, Add Gradebook Category |
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If you do not change the Display As Setting, grades will be displayed as check marks. If you are using grades, you will need to change this field to properly display grades. |
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Include Item in Gradebook score calculations: If you say yes, the item will be added to the Total column that is displayed by default in the gradebook. |
You can organize the Items in your gradebook by choosing the Manage Items option.
To reorder the items, change the # to the left of the item
You can also Modify and Remove items.
Suggestion: If you are posting a lot of items to your gradebook, you may want to group them by category. Once you reorder the items by category, you can create "fake items" to seperate the groups.
For example, you could create an Item called "Assignments" and then move the item so it appears before all assignments.
A gradebook that's grouped looks similar to this:
Turn off columns (such as Total & Weighted Total) so that students cannot see them
Many times, instructors receive complaints or concerns from students who notice the Total & Weighted total column in Blackboard and are confused by the totals.
If you would like to turn off these columns so that the students do not see them, here's how you can do so:
To export your gradebook, follow these steps:
Once you have exported (downloaded) your gradebook, open Excel or a similar spreadsheet program.
The instructions below are for Excel, but will be very similar regardless of the spreadsheet program:
Separating Names & ID#'s in your Gradebook in Excel
If you have downloaded Blackboard's gradebook and are working on it in Excel and would like to separate the Names from the ID#'s in Column A . . here's what you need to do:
1. Right Click on Column B and Choose : Insert
You should now have a Blank Column Next to A
2. Select Column A
3. Choose the Data Menu - Text To Columns (You might have to select the Down arrow to expand the menu)
A window will appear titled: Convert Text to Columns Wizard Step 1 of 3:
4. Make sure Delimited is selected and choose Next
The window is now titled: Convert Text to Columns Wizard - Step 2 of 3
5. Check Other (uncheck any others that may be checked) and in the box next to other, you are going to put | . . .to create this Delimiter, you need to hold down your Shift key and press your \ button.
6. Click Next & Then Finish
7. Column A should now contain your Student's Names and Column B should now contain your Student's ID#'s.
In order to post grades from Excel to Blackboard, you will first need to download the Gradebook from Blackboard.
Once the file has been edited, the spreadsheet (if it is saved as a .csv file) can be loaded back into Blackboard.
Please note: If you are uploading grades for an assignment that was posted using the assignment manager, you will not be able to attach files to return to the students nor post comments.
To export your gradebook, follow these steps:
Once you have exported (downloaded) your gradebook, open Excel or a similar spreadsheet program.
The instructions below are for Excel, but will be very similar regardless of the spreadsheet program.